Minnesota AG announces Novo Nordisk settlement capping monthly insulin payments at $35
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says his office has settled with the last of the three largest insulin manufacturers following its 2018 lawsuit over unaffordable prices that led several diabetics to ration their medications with fatal consequences.
Ellison says the agreement requires Denmark-based manufacturer Novo Nordisk to cap monthly out-of-pocket payments for insulin at $35 a month for the next five years, even for people without health insurance.
"The people who discovered insulin over 100 years ago sold their patents for $1 because they understood that it would save lives," Ellison said. "One of them famously said, 'Insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world.'"
Ellison says Minnesotans living with diabetes were paying about $6,000 a year on average for insulin, but that cost is now dropping to about $600 annually.
The announcement comes nearly a year after his office's settlement with Eli Lilly, which eventually slashed prices on its most prescribed insulin products by 70%, as well as capping out-of-pocket costs at $35 per month for those with commercial insurance policies.
Ellison's office also reached a similar settlement with manufacturer Sanofi in July.
"And whether you're using Eli Lilly, Sanofi and Novo Nordisk products, your insulin costs will be $35 a month, period," he said.
The agreement reached with Novo Nordisk covers popular brands like Flasp, Novolin, NovoLog and Tresib, with three vials or two packs of pins allowed each month.
"Insulin is not an optional medication — it is our life support"
Ellison was joined at Monday morning's press conference by Nicole Smith-Holt, mother of 26-year-old Alec Smith, who died in 2017 from diabetic ketoacidosis.
Smith had aged out of coverage under his mother's insurance, leading him to ration his insulin — which cost $1,300 per month.
Smith's death led his mother to champion the Alec Smith Insulin Affordability Act, signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz in 2020. It caps out-of-pocket costs for diabetics in Minnesota at $35 per month.
"There is a long list of people who have died from complications or from rationing, and Minnesota has stood boldly against Big Pharma and said it's unacceptable," Smith-Holt said at Monday's press conference.
Advocate Quinn Nystrom, who lives with Type 1 diabetes and is on the American Diabetes Association of Minnesota's board of directors, also spoke Monday in the aftermath of the settlement.
"Insulin is not an optional medication — it is our life support," Nystrom said. "We live in the wealthiest, most developed country in the world and we're the only country who is facing this issue, where we have let pharmaceutical companies dictate how much my life costs."
She says January is a difficult month for many diabetics due to the restart of deductible payments, but this final settlement ends the need for diabetics to make unthinkable decisions when it comes to their health and finances.
"Instead of saying, 'You owe us $2,600, pay up or you gotta go home and ration,' now they can say, 'We just need $35,'" she said.
Nystrom also called on people to spread the news of affordable insulin on social media and beyond.
"How does a regular, just working-class person afford to stay alive? We're talking about in the United States of America. That's crazy. OK, that's crazy," she said. "And so I'm blessed because I happen to be born in the state of Minnesota."
In 2022, former President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, capping out-of-pocket insulin costs to seniors on Medicare at $35 a month.
WCCO-TV has reached out to Novo Nordisk for comment on the settlement.
